On Friday 2nd June Northdown Primary School, Margate held their open art exhibition. The whole school was transformed into a gallery, with work displayed in classrooms, corridors and the school hall. Whole rooms were decked out with art installations and the children were on hand to act as gallery guides.

Northdown Primary School took part in the Prince’s Foundation’s Great Art Quest during autumn and spring term, and it inspired the lead teacher to widen out the approach to the rest of the school.

Since Christmas, each child attending Northdown Primary has visited the gallery with their teacher and sketched the work of JMW Turner during our Turner and the Elements exhibition.

The entire school then made artworks based on the theme of the elements, inspired by Turner’s works in the exhibition. All classes used different media, and the results were extremely varied.

Our Schools Officer Beatrice went to Northdown Primary School’s summer art exhibition to have a look at what the children had done.

Justine Hopkins, the lead teacher on the project, says: 'We plan to do this every year, taking each child to Turner Contemporary and then turning the whole school into an exhibition.'